ATLANTA, GA — July 31, 2013 — EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK), a leading IT and communications provider, today announced that EarthLink ranks 15th among the world's Top 25 Fastest Growing Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) based on percentage of revenue growth for 2012 versus 2011 according to Nine Lives Media's third-annual Talkin' Cloud 100 report. EarthLink was also listed among the world's Top 100 CSPs in the report. In February of this year, EarthLink was ranked the number one managed service provider (MSP) on Nine Lives Media's sister MSPmentor 501 Global Edition list and report identifying the world's top 501 managed service providers (MSPs).

"As EarthLink continues its evolution as a Cloud and IT Service provider, we appreciate that Nine Lives Media has affirmed our robust growth in this sector," said Michael D. Toplisek, EarthLink Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "From our popular Hosted Voice product to the recent acquisition of MSP and hosted IT provider CenterBeam, we are listening to our clients and continuously improving and expanding the cloud solutions they need to more efficiently run their businesses. In short order, watch for EarthLink to roll out an even more robust suite of endpoint management and security, hosted collaboration services, mobile device management and end-user help desk solutions."

The Talkin' Cloud 100 report is based on data from Talkin' Cloud's online survey, conducted January through May 2013. The Talkin' Cloud 100 report recognizes top cloud service providers based on such metrics as annual cloud services revenue growth (both in actual dollars and in percentage growth rates).

"Nine Lives Media and Talkin' Cloud congratulate EarthLink," said Amy Katz, president of Nine Lives Media, a division of Penton. "The Talkin' Cloud 100 honor arrives amid a land grab in the cloud computing market. And the Talkin' Cloud 100 companies are leading that land grab."

Talkin' Cloud, produced by Nine Lives Media, is the go-to resource for CSPs, VARs and MSPs profiting from cloud computing. Talkin' Cloud features a daily blog, research, Channel Expert Hour Webcasts and FastChat videos. It is the first online media destination for channel partners working in the cloud.

About Penton
For millions of business owners and decision-makers, Penton makes the difference every day. We engage our professional users by providing actionable ideas and insights, data and workflow tools, community and networking, both in person and virtually, all with deep relevance to their specific industries. We then activate this engagement by connecting users with tens of thousands of targeted providers of products and services to help drive business growth. Learn more about our company at www.penton.com. Penton is a privately held company owned by MidOcean Partners and U.S. Equity Partners II, an investment fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co., LP.

About EarthLink
EarthLink (EarthLink Holdings Corp., NASDAQ: ELNK) provides managed network, security and cloud solutions for multi-location businesses. We help thousands of specialty retailers, restaurants, financial institutions, healthcare providers, professional service firms and local governments deliver a reliable and engaging customer experience in their stores and branch offices. We do so by building and managing MPLS WAN networks, by providing virtualized infrastructure, security, hosted voice, secure WiFi and compliance solutions, and by offering exceptional customer care. We operate a nationwide network spanning more than 28,000 fiber route miles, with 90 metro fiber rings and secure data centers that provide ubiquitous data and voice IP service coverage. Our EarthLink Carrier™ division sells facilities-based wholesale telecommunications to other providers and our award-winning Internet services connect hundreds of thousands of residential customers across the U.S. For more, visit www.earthlink.com and follow @earthlink, LinkedIn and Google+.